Maccabi Tel Aviv defeated Beitar Jerusalem 1:0 and the player who impressed you the most was Chico Ofoedu who was voted as the Man of the Match.

Other than Ofoedu, Predrag Rajkovic’s save garnered the Serbian shot stopper second place while Eliran Atar and Omer Atzili claimed the next two places.

Vladimir Ivic, the Maccabi Tel Aviv Head Coach looked back at his side’s 1:0 victory over Beitar Jerusalem on Matchday 19 of the Israel Premier League Ligat Japanika

“I have to give congratulations to my players as they had a very good game. They fought from the first to the last seconds of the game like a team and we deserved the 3 points. Normally the result would be four or five zero as we had 3 posts and 3 more very good chances near the end. But football is a very difficult game and they could score near the end without a chance. Congratulations to my players again as they deserve this victory and they worked hard to achieve it.”

Are the other clubs learning how to play Maccabi?
“I don’t think so. I believe that we created some chances in the first half and it’s not impossible to create 10-15 chances every game. The opponent plays and we has a very strong team in front of us who didn’t create anything today.”

Quality and character to win the title:
“It’s both quality and character. We began playing our games in Europe and we have played a lot of games and we have only lost one game which was in the Europa League. We have worked hard and we will continue to work hard as we all know it. We are in the middle of the Championship and we have that as well as the State Cup in front of us. We want both trophies and to achieve it we need to fight until the end.”

Maccabi Tel Aviv defeated Beitar Jerusalem 1:0 thanks to Dor Micha’s second half goal as the Yellow & Blue picked up the win and the three points. Next week, Coach Vladimir Ivic’s squad will visit Hapoel Hadera on Matchday 20 of the Israel Premier League Ligat Japanika. Prior to the match a ceremony was held to honor former Yellow & Blue central defender Tal Ben Haim who now plays for Beitar.

Head Coach Vladimir Ivic’s Starting XI included keeper Predrag Rajkovic, Maor Kandil, Sheran Yeini, Shahar Piven, Enric Saborit, Dan Glezer, Dor Peretz, Dor Micha, Omer Atzili, Eliran Atar, Chico Ofoedu.

Available on the bench: Daniel Tenenbaum, Eli Dasa, Jair Amador, Avi Rikan, Yonatan Cohen, Aron Schoenfeld, Ruslan Barsky.

First Half
Ofoedu had the first chance of the match but his sharp angled shot was saved by Itamar Nitzan in the 3’ while Glezer’s long distance attempt was also taken care of the Beitar shot stopper. Yeini’s 5’ header off an Atzili corner went over the bar as Maccabi continued to threaten. In the 11’ Beitar had their first chance of the match when Vered put the ball over the bar and three minutes later Gaëtan Varenne’s attempt off a Maor Buzaglo free kick was caught by Rajkovic.

Buzaglo’s 19’ free kick went over the goal as did Varenne’s header one minute later. Ofoedu’s low shot hit the left post in the 33’ which was followed up by a pair of Atar chances that went over the goal. Ange-Freddy Plumain’s opportunity in the box was taken care of by Rajkovic while Vered’s shot was also saved by the Maccabi keeper as the half ended goalless.

Atar had a chance to give Maccabi the lead in the 51’ but his volley was saved by Nitzan and 4 minutes later Atar put the ball off the bar as the Yellow & Blue searched for the opening goal. In the 57’ Atzili’s laser beam was parried away to safety by Nitzan and Ofoedu’s shot went off the post.

Finally in the 62’ Micha broke the ice when he tapped in Atzil’s shot from the right side that Nitzan couldn’t save to give Maccabi a 1:0 lead. Avi Rikan was introduced in favor of Atar in the 66’. Saborit’s 76’ volley went over the goal and 4 minutes later Atzili made way for Yonatan Cohen for Coach Ivic’s second substitution while Aron Schoenfeld came on for Ofoedu in the 89’. Rajkovic made a huge save off a Yossi Benayoun chance in the box in injury time as Maccabi wrapped up a 1:0 win over Beitar.

Maccabi Tel Aviv meets Beitar Jerusalem this evening in their Israel Premier League Ligat Japanika second round match which will be the 4th time this season that the two clubs have met. Let’s look back at the previous three contests between Vladimir Ivic’s squad and the capital city side:

29.7.18, Toto Cup: Beitar Jerusalem 0:1 Maccabi Tel Aviv
The first match between the two was in the Toto Cup as part of the clubs that played in UEFA competitions. This was Maccabi’s first step towards the title and thanks to Aron Schoenfeld the Yellow & Blue moved on to eventually capture the trophy.

Sheran Yeini, the Maccabi Tel Aviv captain addressed the assembled media ahead of Monday night’s contest against Beitar Jerusalem at the Netanya Stadium (21:00):

“I don’t believe that there has ever been an easy match against Beitar. It will be a tough match. I’m not a prophet though. This is a big game.”

The small battles:
“I’m very familiar with them and they have dangerous players. They had a lot of chances against us last time. We will have to win the small battles to win the match.”

Earning a place on the squad:
“At Maccabi every player can start and we train very hard. This pushes us forward as we compete for a place in that squad.”

Matan Hozez’s success to date with Hapoel Haifa:
“Matan Hozez is great. We think he is terrific also on a personal level and we are happy for him.”

Vladimir Ivic, the Maccabi Tel Aviv Head Coach spoke ahead of his squad’s contest against Beitar Jerusalem at the Netanya Stadium on Monday night at 21:00 and discussed the State Cup quarterfinal draw where the Yellow & Blue will play the winner of the Bnei Sakhnin and Maccabi Haifa Round of 16 contest:

“It doesn’t matter who we get in the cup, we need to beat the opponent. We must win all of the games we have until the end.”

About the upcoming match against Beitar:
“It will be not the first match against them and after 3 games there’s no secrets between us. They have new players which will help them but we want to get the 3 points after the draw last week. It will be a tough game between two big clubs. We will decide before the game who will start.”

Uros Nikolic’s status:
“Uros finished the season in November and we gave him time to rest but he came earlier to adapt. In one training session he a problem after one of his shots. I’m sure we will have him for the best part of the season. Hopefully he will be training with the team in the next 2-3 days.”

Rajkovic’s standing with the team:
“Predrag is a player Maccabi spent a lot of money on and he’s played for the Serbian national team. He works hard and he at a good level now and hopefully until the end of the season. Everything is possible. If he stays he will fight for our club until the end.”